Rules of behaviour

Account Creation Rules

• I will have exactly one character registered in the system at any one time. To make a new character, I will seek approval from Admin by following the Alting rules or have my old character deleted by one of the Admin. Failure to do this will result in punishment time.

Naming Rules

Character names should reflect the genre of the game - original, fantasy-oriented names are desired.

The following types of names are unacceptable:

• Vile, profane, rude, or racist names including common swear words, anatomical references, racial slurs, and homonyms of these words. Combinations of words that produce an offensive result (e.g. SluttyMcHoBag, Domenow).
• Names of religious, occult, or significant historic origin (e.g. Churchill, Satan, Muhammad).
• Copyrighted or trademarked names of products, characters, services, or concepts (e.g. Toshiba, Dell, Reebok).
• Names based on political or religious ideas.
• Non-fantasy oriented names from popular media. These names can be either fictional (e.g. Homer Simpson, Mr. Burns) or non-fictional (e.g. Oprah, Geraldo, Bill Clinton).
• Common words and phrases that would not be found in the place and time setting of the game (e.g. Electric, Internet, Netjunkie, Tvrulez).
• Proper names from The World Called Hollow (e.g. Sven, Xalious, Milous). This also includes the first or last name of any significant Hollow NPC (e.g. Mesthak, Edward).
• The names of senior The World Called Hollow staff members or employees (e.g. Michaels, Steven)
• Names chosen with the intent or possessed with the effect of harming the reputation of a player or The World Called Hollow Staff Member.
• Names containing titles within them, such as, but not limited to: The, An, God, Gawd, Lord, Lady.
• Names that contain sentences (Ikillorcs), phrases (Ontop), or two or more words that do not form descriptive compound words (Petcarbob, Diediedie and Tablechair). Descriptive compound words are allowed (e.g. Treehugger, Giantslayer). Descriptive compound words (each separate part of the word and the entire word) must otherwise adhere to all other naming rules. Descriptive compound words that are deemed nonsensical or 'silly' by the admin will not be permitted and will be reviewed on a case by case basis. When in doubt, check first.
• Fantasy-oriented names that are easily recognized from popular existing media (e.g. Merlin, Gandalf, Frodo, Bilbo, Kingarthur).
• Nonsense names (e.g. Aaaa, Bbbblkjasd, Bjsldk)
• For all of the above, misspellings and alternative spellings of the word or words are also unacceptable.
• Character names may not contain spaces or special characters of any kind.
• Note: Non-words like-- D, Da, De, Di, El, Z, Za, Ze, Zi, L, Le, La, Li are unacceptable in cases where the name contains a normal word, as they are references to "The" and implicate a title, in both cases (e.g. D`Kval is acceptable and D`Basher is not).
• All names are subject to review by the admin, and if deemed inappropriate, for any reason, should be changed immediately. A 'grandfather' clause is in effect for older names.

Low-level violators will be transported to the "Stupid name room", or be contacted in-game. Re-registration will be required. Repeated violations will result in a temporary ban.

High-level violators will have their characters deleted as soon as it is discovered. No notification of the deletion will occur, and all items, experience, statistics, money, and credits will be forfeited without any reimbursement.

Non-Playable Characters (NPCs)

This section refers to characters that don't exist within the game system per se, but are characters that you have made up to progress your own personal storyline. They include any character that you have tagging along with your own character. Due to the recent explosion of the use of this type of RP, certain rules have been put in place to govern the use and behaviour of these characters.

• NPCs cannot death duel or duel.
  • As they are not real with regards to the system, you can not use one to death duel or duel in an attempt to keep your real character safe.
• NPCs cannot exist without your main character.
  • The game is played from the perspective of your named character, this means you can not log in as Jim the Elf and play as Bob the Dwarf, claiming that Jim isn't really there and has gone off on some quest.
    • Example: Vuryal || Bob struts into the tavern, his eyes glancing about as he looks for something to eat. Why this doesn't work: This is BOB playing the game, not Vuryal. How it CAN work: Vuryal struts into the tavern, patting his servant Bob on the back to fetch a platter of food. Upon getting the platter, Bob sets it down and the chronomancer begins to chow down on the chili dog.
• NPCs cannot duel for items.
  • You can not use your NPC to duel someone for their inventory. In addition to this, you cannot make an NPC to follow your character and get him to duel for items, in anticipation of deleting your main character and adding the NPC to the system. Collecting items in this way IS item transfer and carries the same penalties.
• NPCs ARE governed by the same rules that a real system based character would be. – This means that they can’t have silly names, abuse people, or break any of the character based rules. This also means that if your character gets muted/proomed or banned you can not claim it is not fair because it was something your NPC said or did. You as the player are responsible for the actions of your NPC.
• Most of your time must be spent playing your primary character and not the NPC. You cannot spend the majority of your post as the NPC, rather than your primary character. NPCs are there as a small support, not as a crutch.
• There are circumstances in which we can use NPCs instead of our primary characters. These circumstances are limited to either an admin approved situation (i.e. for an arc) or a generic monster hunt, in which one player NPCs entirely as the monster/villain for the RP in order to assist another player with story development. These encounters are generally considered to be one-offs, meaning that the specific NPC will not be seen again.

More information can be found here.

System Abuse

• I will not exploit any in-game bugs, glitches or errors. There shall be no attempts to hack or modify any part of the system. I am expected to report any bugs, glitches, or errors immediately upon finding them to Admin, keeping it confidential until the error can be fixed.
• I will notify the Admin of anyone who is breaking any rule. Failure to report a violation can result in the same punishment as the violator.

Items

• I will not transfer items, nor will I help others transfer items from an old character to a new character. An individual's new character cannot obtain items from the individual's old character, as that provides the new character an unfair advantage.
• I will not name my pet inappropriate names. I will choose a name suitable to the environment of the game. The pet name should consist of one word only, and should not include special characters such as /*-+=_)(*&^%$£”!. The name should also follow the policies regarding character names.

Chat/Communication

• I will not abuse the in-game chat channels. I will use each in-game channel for its intended purpose. For example, I will not talk about out of game topics on the in-character channels, and I will not talk about completely unrelated things on the out of character channels. I will not spam any of the channels, and will use appropriate language.
• I will not post inflammatory comments about the game, staff, or players in the game. If the comment is entirely in-character, it is deemed to be acceptable. Constructive criticism is also acceptable, but only if a solution is suggested at the same time. An example of needless comments could include typing in all caps, or at least 51% of your post being in all caps.
• I will not participate in graphic or sexual communications. The game is deemed to be loosely PG-13, however, not being video based, this category does not completely fit and is modified slightly. However, as a rough guideline it is generally sufficient. Excessive use of foul language that is not consistent with the fantasy environment and designed to hurt will be considered a disruption.
• I will not post material that disparages a race, sex, religion, political group, nationality, sexual orientation, or other comments that disparage others' beliefs, identities, or lifestyles.
• I will not post material that attacks or insults others on the board. Debate is fine; name-calling, harassment, or threats are not acceptable.
• I will not post obscenity, profanity, or vulgarity that is considered inappropriate for individuals over the age of 13 by general standards of decency in the United States.
• I will not post personally identifiable information about individuals - even if that information is my own. I will never meet a person from this game in real life.
• I will not defame The World Called Hollow or The World Called Hollow Staff.
• I will not advertise other services/websites without the express written permission of The World Called Hollow.
• I will not repeatedly post the same information in order to gain attention to it.
• I will not flood/spam communication channels.

Ethics

• I will not attempt to defraud other players of cash or earnings. I will not participate in actions, on an out of character level, in any scheme that will result in a character losing in-game or real-world property.
• I will not send trojans, worms, or viruses to other players through Hollow.
• I will not attempt to locate or physically harm any other player in the game.
• I will not impersonate Hollow staff or other players. I will not create characters with similar names to current players, nor will I use their names to threaten other players.
• I will not fraudulently lead someone to a location where they will get attacked by a monster Since some rooms contain aggressive monsters that attack anyone who enters, leading a player to that room under false pretenses is not allowed.

Out-of-Character/In-Game

• I will not harass other players due to out-of-character conflicts. If my character does not have a good reason to target another player, the behavior is punishable.
• I will not bring out-of-character conflicts into the game.

Interactions With Others

• I will not unmask, allude to, or sell information regarding a player's previous or alternate character(s). I will only reveal this information if I have the permission of the player in question. I will respect a player's right to privacy and not request information about who they formerly played unless such information is volunteered by that player.
• I will accept the ruling of any people who I put in charge of the fate of my character. If I agree to duel with stakes, I will accept the decision of the judges without question. Should there be a legitimate reason why the decisions of the judges should be brought into question, I will bring the duel to the attention of the administration, which will then make a final ruling. Disagreeing with the decision of the judges simply due to the outcome and without valid reasons for disagreement is not a valid reason for appealing the ruling.
• I will not mock a player's legitimate attempts at role-play. If a player does not show skill regarding intelligence, typing ability, imagination, spelling, etc., then I will not mock, nor belittle, their attempts to role play. Constructive criticism is acceptable if it is an attempt to improve the player’s skills, rather than to destroy their confidence.
• I will not disrupt the normal playability of a zone or area. Disruption can include: monopolizing kills in a area, deliberately blocking a direction, making excessive/inappropriate use of communication (flooding shout, say, etc.)

Legal

• I will not participate in any discussions deemed illegal in the United States, United Kingdom, or Australia. This includes, but is not limited to, drug use, hacking, terrorism, and acquisition of unauthorized copyrighted material. I will not post images or links to anything deemed indecent, including, but not limited to, pornography, images/videos of deaths.

Administrators

• I will accept the decision of any staff member as final.
• I will accept any instruction from any Hollow Admin.
• I will not claim Admins are abusing me. If I have a legitimate case, I will bring it to the attention of admin@hollowgame.com with a subject line of "Admin Abuse", stating clearly what my grievance is, which admin are involved, and what evidence backs up the claim. Admin abuse is taken very seriously; however, you should have significant evidence to prove abuse. "(Admin) punished me because I was being mouthy" is an example of a frivolous grievance.
• I will not play admin off each other. If I receive a punishment from a member of staff, I will not seek out another member of staff to complain about the punishment in an attempt to get it reduced. The only person who can release a player from punishment is the admin that enacted the punishment.

Role-Play

• I agree to the established history of Hollow, its races and classes.
• I will not participate in any storyline that involves the sexual exploitation of a character in-game.
• Characters can only claim a maximum of two races in its ancestry, with the following caveats -
  • Vampiric cross-breeds, such as vampiric elf, vampiric human, etc., can only take place via siring. Keep in mind that the rules for vampire breeding will apply to the cross-breed because their body is effectively dead. Essentially, if your character is sired, it becomes a vampire, with some remnant qualities of its old race.
  • Vampires cannot be mixed with lycan- or dragon- based creatures, including draconians. The reason for this is that their blood is a toxin to the vampires and will kill them.
  • In the same vein as vampires can only breed with other vampires, lycans can only breed with other lycans, because once your character is bitten it becomes a lycan, with some remnant qualities of the former race when not in lycan form.
  • In the case of pregnant women being sired, the woman’s body effectively dies, and as such, can no longer sustain the child. As the vampire body can't sustain the child, the child develops the desire to leave the body as soon as possible. The vampire body treats it as a foreign body, rejecting it. Hence the child is born prematurely. If the child is developed enough, it lives, if not it dies.
  • Dryads can be in a relationship with other races, however, they can not breed with them in any way, shape or form. The reason for this is that dryads are essentially asexual beings.
  • Other non-sensical race combinations, such as dragon-pixie, are not permitted.
  • Half-breeds are sterile, meaning they cannot produce offspring of their own.
• Angels, demons, gods, and goddesses:
  • Characters cannot embody these eternal beings in any way, shape, or form without express admin consent. Period, end of discussion.
• Role-playing does not grant license to violate any rules. For example, you cannot steal a player's kill bounty that has dropped in a room by role-playing a thief.
• I will accept any Admin-endorsed RPs. Since admin based RPs further the storyline of Hollow, I agree to acknowledge and follow these plots. I do not have to participate, but I cannot refuse the existence of the plot.
• I will set the terms of RP duels clearly with witnesses. Stakes will only be enforced if witnesses can be provided.
• I will not RP gods, goddesses, or other powerful beings. Your character may think they are all powerful, but actually having that power is much different from simply saying it.

Combat

• I will not steal kills. – Kill stealing is defined as killing a monster in the same room as another player who is not inactive for five minutes.
  • I can ask the player politely if they want the monster to kill. If they say that they do not, then I may kill the monster.
• If I die while fighting a monster, I cannot rush back and claim it as my monster if someone else is there; the monster is theirs to kill is they so wish.
• I will not steal someone else's gains from a monster. Some monsters drop items on the floor when killed. If these items are in the same room as the person who killed the monster, you must first ask that person if they want them. If they decline, then you may take them. Failure to comply with this is loot stealing and will result in an inventory wipe.
• Upon entering a room where an aggressive monster attacks, I will pay close attention to its stats. If it appears that the monster has been attacked already, I MUST escape immediately and ask permission of whoever is currently attempting to fight it if it can be attacked.
• I will not train other players. Training other players is defined as allowing that player to slash you while you wait so they can gain experience. This will result in the stat wipe of both players.
• I will not camp at monsters (spending inordinate time at one monster holding it for a character to kill). If I am first in the room, I have the right to first kill of the monster. However, if there is a number of people in the room, a queue system must be set up, and turns in killing the monster must be taken.

Miscellaneous Other

• I understand and accept that not all rules are written here. If a warning is given by an admin, the warning shall be heeded as if it were covered in these rules. If I am unsure of a rule, I will ask an admin.
• I understand that from time to time I may be subject to hoaxes, schemes, or jokes. These situations will be made clear by a silly name or outrageous claim.

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Also see the General Policies and Terms of Service.